Unfortunately at the moment Adams is deep-6, football speaking. This does suggest Beerholder will play a dedicated 8 behind Wes, which is, I think, a good thing, esp if they really "stay home." We will be less elegant, but perhaps more effective. Wes came back to pick up the ball quite a bit last game, and if he can make that a regular, clean part of his game, he can be an exceptional athletic B2B who can also challenge in the air and, with some work, learn to muscle guys a bit.
I was just listening to somebody on Sirius XM FC (Danny Higginbotham?) and he was explaining how the box to box midfielder was a dying breed in the modern game. Is that true?
I see no evidence of this. If someone can do it, it’s incredibly useful tactically. I can’t imagine having a player who can do it and coaching him not to play box-to-box.
Weston is in the starting lineup. Game starts at 9:30 eastern on FS2, Fox Sports Go, and Fox Soccer Match Pass Our XI to face @HerthaBSC_en this afternoon 📋#s04 | #S04BSC pic.twitter.com/31q2IeLSgJ— FC Schalke 04 (@s04_en) August 31, 2019
McKennie goes 90+ and was pretty decent, whenever I paid attention to his match, in a 3-0 win against Hertha. He's really settling into that 8 role that Wagner has designed for him...and is in ********ing outstanding shape. Lung bursting box to box runs over and over again.
Looked like a shot to me and would've been hard for him to get to. Impressive move to start, set-up, and nearly finish the entire counter though!
Great for Schalke and disaster for Hertha Berlin. What must really sting for them is that for the moment, Union Berlin is ahead of Hertha in the standings.
I mean, anybody that's ever done serious training knew he was going to be in great shape. You don't start your season at 6% body fat you end it at 6% body fat. His "chub" was bulk weight from summer training. I pointed that out and was mostly backed up, thankfully the "he's out of shape" crowd was a vocal minority. He's a beast. He's turning into a near All-Bundesliga midfielder and will probably make more than a few team of the weeks if he can keep helping Schalke to great results like this.
Tell that to James Milner who probably shows up at camp at 3-6% body fat, leads every fitness test, and stays that way the whole season. Genetics probably plays a big factor and most guys do probably have to time their peak fitness, but others (Milner, C Ronaldo, etc) can probably maintain that as long as they want. Weston seems extremely competitive and driven and I wonder if as he gets older he'll fall more into the he-man category. He has so many of the intangible tools to be a great player, and I bet from a coaching perspective he's pretty easy to love. Has won over every coach so far. Provided he can stay on the field, this is going to be a very fun season to watch!
BTW, Schalke picked up a Barca prospect, 19 yo defender Juan Miranda on loan. No idea if he's any good.